“The most touching aspect of love is not being together with all things beautiful, but having someone who is willing to hold your hand quietly, through all the hardships and despair, through laughter and tears, and stay by your side from youth to old age.”

△Jose once told Sanmao, “I only wanted to get married after meeting you.”

Jose asked Sanmao, “What kind of husband do you want?”

After some thought, Sanmao said, “If I like him, I’d marry a millionaire; if not, even a billionaire will do.”

Jose said, “So, you just want to marry a rich man?”

Sanmao replied, “But if it’s you, I’d be content with three meals a day, and maybe even fewer in the future.”

You see, when you meet the right person, all the complexities fade away, the worldly noise subsides, and everything becomes simple.

Before meeting the right person, we set countless standards, such as needing him to be refined, as handsome as Hu Ge, at least 180cm tall, owning a house and a car, having a successful career, being family-oriented, having hobbies, and being faithful…

Unfortunately, life is not as beautiful as we imagine.

The cruelest part of life is that not only does the perfect person not exist, but in continuous disappointment, we also learn to deceive ourselves. We fall in love with someone, even though we know that all the good things about them are just our imagination. Even if we know the other person is impossible, we pretend to be brave, and tearfully go forward, feeling like there’s no other path for us but to love them.

Even when Aniston’s husband was openly taken by a mistress in front of the world, she still managed to live a fulfilling life.

A few years ago, a girl sent me a private message, every word reeking of despair.

She said, “I want someone to know and write about my love story with him before I leave this world. I want him to regret it after reading it, for he has treated someone who loved him so deeply with such cruelty.”

In the end, she left her contact information and asked to meet me, so she could tell me her story.

Honestly, that message almost scared me to death. I quickly contacted the girl, with the mindset of “saving a life is more important than constructing seven tiers of pagodas.” I tried to console, persuade, and listen to her. At that age when I still believed in everything, I was genuinely afraid she would commit suicide for love. Later, I realized that someone who had decided to leave the world wouldn’t still be attached to it. Her expressions were just a desperate attempt to gamble everything in a certain way.

Eventually, we met for afternoon tea at a nearby restaurant. Her story was chaotic, accompanied by occasional sobs. I heard a melodramatic tale. Nonetheless, in the girl’s eyes, it was the most heart-wrenching love story in the world.

She was three years older than her boyfriend. They fell in love when they were young. She knew from the beginning that he had a gambling problem. Despite opposition from family and friends, she decided to be with him. Later, they started a small business together. She managed the external business, while he handled internal management. Eventually, he started a relationship with a female employee. At first, it was done in secret, but eventually, it became public, even to the extent of the three of them traveling and sharing a bed. From initial anger to later silent endurance, she continued to fantasize about a day when the prodigal would return.

But how could a bad love nourish a good person?

What made her most desperate was that he had accumulated huge debts from gambling. She borrowed money from friends and family to pay off his debts, but how could she fill the void? The already unstable business was affected, and it was on the verge of closure. At that time, the other woman also became pregnant with his child.

She said, “The other woman is already five months pregnant, and his choice is clear. I am the legal person of the company, and all debts can only be borne by me. I loved him, and this is how it ends.”

She said, “Right now, I have only two thoughts: either die with him, or die and make him regret it.”

I didn’t know how to comfort a desperate girl, but I tried everything to console her. During that time, I felt like an emotional expert, talking about love for large segments, and even telling her the ugliest truths about my own love life, which I rarely mentioned, just to make her understand that there are many relationships worse than hers. Some people choose to remain silent, and even though they’ve been hurt, they choose to forgive others with tears in their eyes and let themselves go.

I told her that whether it’s friendship or love, when you decide to treat someone sincerely, you must be willing to do so. If he appreciates your kindness, he will be grateful; if he is indifferent, there’s no need to resent him. When one day, your heart is broken, and you’re no longer willing to continue, you should part ways amicably and move on.

I ultimately didn’t write their story. Because in the worst six months that followed, the girl finally realized what a scoundrel she had once loved. She later told me that wanting to give up her life for a scoundrel was truly not worth it. As for the story between him and me, I didn’t want to use any words to commemorate it.

It’s only after experiencing some ups and downs that one realizes that being in the right relationship is love; loving the wrong person is just a waste of time.